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[Deck] Esper Deathblade

Hi, I'm Neo. I'm a Esper Deathblade player from Germany who reached Top 8s and Top 16s at big Legacy event and this is my primer for my favorite deck:Esper Deathblade

I.Overview

II.History

III.Decklists

IV.Card Choices

a.)Manabase

b.)Creatures

c.)Spells

V.Deathblade as a Stoneblade subtype

a.)Esper Stoneblade

b.)UW Stoneblade

c.)UWR Stoneblade

VI. Decks and Cards we don't likeI. Overview

Deathblade is a fair deck which uses powerful cards such as Stoneforge Mystic and Deathrite Shaman, from which it derives its name. As a subtype of the Stoneblade deck, Deathblade utilizes the natural combination of Stoneforge Mystic and powerful equipments, like Batterskull, Umezawa's Jitte, and sometimes a Sword of X and Y (a popular choice is Sword of Fire and Ice). Many decks have trouble dealing with these equipments, especially Batterskull which creates a 4/4 Vigilance Lifelink creature when it enters the battlefield. Deathbalde also employs other threats such as Snapcaster Mage, Vendilion Clique, True-Name Nemesis and sometimes even Baleful Strix. In addition to these powerful creatures, Deathblade also uses the best removal in the game in Swords to Plowshares, Abrupt Decay, and Council's Judgment; the best counters in Force of Will and Spell Pierce; and the best disruption with Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize. These cards are supported by the strongest planeswalkers: Jace, the Mind Sculptor, who can win the game by his own, and Liliana of the Veil.

To find what you need, Deathblade plays the best cantrips in Legacy: Brainstorm, Ponder. Some lists even include Sylvan Library to get even more card selection and advantage.

There is no "BEST LIST". Deathblade lists, especially those that use 4 colors, are flexible and different lists each come with their own advantages and disadvantages. The main goal of the deck is to exhaust the opponents resources and attack him with strong spells. See more under point IV. Card Choices.

II. History

Stoneblade decks first appeared in 2010 with Worldwake which gave us Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic. The synergy of the both cards made it the Deck to Beat in Standard: Caw-Blade.

Players used this synergy in Legacy with powerful Legacy staples, such as Force of Will and Swords to Plowshares.

The deck quickly restructed itself quickly after the Return to Ravnica (October 2012) expansion’s creation of Deathrite Shaman and Abrupt Decay, resulting in today's skeleton of Deathblade. Older builds of the deck included Geist of Saint Traft but in Commander 2013, a new creature appeared: True-Name Nemesis. This creature turned out to be the perfect creature for the deck; immune to spot removal, unblockable, and even stronger with any of the powerful equipments the deck runs attached to it.

For a more comprehensive reading on the more traditional Stoneblade decks, check out the UWx Stoneblade primer here

An older list from 2013, this list is still playable right now, but over the time stronger cards hit the floor. For more decks and ideas about various decklists there are various sites like tcdecks, mtgtop8 or mtgpulse. You can check my most recent list here.

IV. Card Choices

a.) Manabase - Deathblade’s mana base can be incredibly greedy and building and managing it is the hardest part about this deck. Fetching incorrectly or an opponent's Wasteland hitting an important land and you'll quickly find yourself unable to cast any spells. Deathblade lists traditionally use up to 4 colors: White, Black, Blue and a bit Green.

Most lists run about 21-23 lands with 8-10 being fetchlands, 2-3 wastelands, a few utility lands and sometimes up to 3 basics.

Deathrite Shaman helps the deck stabalize and ramps to play strong 3-drops on turn 2 or to allow a turn 2 wasteland into Stoneforge Mystic.

For utility lands, many lists often run Karakas. It produces white mana and has the unique ability to bounce a legendary creature like our own Vendilion Clique. In some lists you will find Academy Ruins, which is often used to bring back equipments or Baleful Strix.

Creeping Tar Pit is also a common choice which is safe against sorcery speed removal and is an unblockable creature.

b.) Creatures – Over the years the typical configuration of creatures has changed. Also every player has a different playstyle and may employ different creatures. Below are the typical core creatures, and other strong choices to slot in at your own discretion.

Core Creatures:

Deathrite Shaman: A playset Deathrite Shaman is the heart of Deathblade. He does everything in Legacy. He can provide a clock, manaramp, heal, and control graveyards. It's very common for him to eat removal due to how strong he is by himself.

Stoneforge Mystic: The second core part in Deathblade. 3-4 copies are typical. Many decks can't handle the Batterskull or Umezawa's Jitte that she finds. While she is a core creature, 3 copies is typically the amount you want to run as after you find Batterskull and Jitte, she's just a 1/2.

True-Name Nemesis: The main beater in the deck. Deathrite shaman allows him to come down on turn 2 and equipping him with either Jitte or Batterskull is usually game over.

Other creatures:

Baleful Strix: An amazing creature in creature matchups. Does everything for us. Replaces himself as soon as he resolves, can hold equipment, and can be pitched for Force of Will, not to mention he almost always trades up.

Snapcaster Mage: Another form of card advantage, allows you to use whatever spell you just need more of. Lists usually run 1-3 copies depending on how many instants and sorceries you end up running.

Vendilion Clique: A 3/1 flyer at instant speed that allows you to control the hand of the opponent and to get important information. Very strong with Karakas - Attacking on your turn and then bouncing and replaying him on your opponent's turn allows you to have a clock and control what answers they could have.

Leovold, Emissary of Trest: This new guy comes in with a 3/3 body and a great ability. He blocks card draw like Spirit of the Labyrinth but only for the opponent. Besides that he lets us draw a card everytime a permenant or us becomes target of a spell or ability.

Fatties: Many different cards fit the role here including Gurmag Angler, Tasigur, the Golden Fang, and Tombstalker. Typical in Abzan lists, each of these cards here do essentially the same thing which is just beat the opponent. Delve allows them to be dropped very quickly and typically for only 1-3 mana.

Dark Confidant: A good creature, he was played a long time ago as a core creature. However, things have changed. He provides card advantage and can be great in a control meta, but be careful: revealing a Force of Will, Jace, or Batterskull will hurt. Not to mention that a lot of lists run a decent amount of 3 cmc cards, and the damage can add up. He is still pretty common in Abzan lists though.

Venser, Shaper Savant: He is pure control. With a Karakas out, you can lock your opponent out. Also he has a decent body with 2/2.

Monastery Mentor: A very uncommon and rare pick for the deck. In the right set up he can drive crazy and produces many big tokens.

c.) Spells – Deathblade is a flexible all-rounder. Your spells allows you to switch roles. From control to aggro and from control to aggro. Below are the typical core spells explained, and other spells you might want to have.Draw and ManipulationBrainstorm: This is the most important cantrip. It can find answers at instant speed. With a fetchland becomes Brainstorm a powerful tool to manipulate the quality of your hand and future draws by shuffling your library.

Ponder: Just like Brainstorm a cantrip. Ponder is a sorcery and the big difference is that it just looks at the top 3 cards.

Jace, the Mind Sculptor: The Brainstorm machine. This dude draws cards after cards and can even kill the opponent with his -12 ultimate. On his way for the kill, he keeps your opponent away from important spells.

DisruptionThoughtseize: It trades their best card for 2 life. With Batterskull or Umezawa's Jitte not a big deal. Besides that it offers you information. Information about your opponent. Which deck they play and how they going to react to your spells.Inquisition of Kozilek: The same as Thoughtseize with the difference that you don't lose life but restricted on spells with a total manacost of 3 or less.

Hymn to Tourarch: Let your opponent discard 2 cards and he doesn't have the choice. With the right follow up you are able to take a big advantage.

Liliana of the Veil: The second Planeswalker on our list. She brings control by her disruption and her -6 ultimate isn't deadly directly but for sure it will have its inpact.

Cabal Therapy: Another discard spell which requires a lot of knowlendge about other decks, but can hit multiple copies at he same time.

RemovalSwords to Plowshares: It's the point removal of choice. One mana and every creature is gone. The life is most of the times not a big deal since Batterskull will close the game rather quickly.Path to Exile: Like the brother Swords to Plowshares it gives the opponent a land instead of life. Mostly a sideboard choice as additional point removal.

Abrupt Decay: 2 Mana, Uncounterable, destroy target with manacost 3 or less. This is the reason for a green splash.

TokensBitterblossom: An enchantment which produces a lots of tokens. Unanswered it will close the game. Or you use it to stop attackers; 4/5 Tarmogoy, 20/20 Marit Large ? Your damage is decreased to 1.

Lingering Souls: An aggressive sorcery. Also great to discard into Liliana of the Veil and flashback it. Pure value.

CountersForce of Will: This is our #1 counterspell. Counter everything without paying any mana. We need it but depending on your build you could have to less blue cards to pitch something. Keep this in mind while you build your deck.

Spell Pierce/Spell Snare: Cheap and does the job. Great addition to Force of Will. While Spell Snare is a hard counter for 2 mana spells, we have Spell Pierce as a tax counter for non creature spells.

V.Deathblade as a Stoneblade subtype
The Stoneblade archetypes splits up in 4 subtypes: Esperblade, UW Stoneblade, Jeskai Stoneblade and Deathblade. Here are brief information about the other ones:

a.)Esperblade - A pure esper deck without green and [cards]Deathrite Shaman[cards]. Mostly with Lingering Souls as an aggressive card and Dark Confidant as cardadvantage.

b.)UW Stoneblade - This is the ancestor of all blade decks. A UW control deck using Jace, the Mind Sculptor followed up by Batterskull as a finisher. Many counters, many cantrips, much control.

c.)Jeskai Stoneblade - UWr Stoneblade is like an upgraded version of UW Stoneblade. By splashing red it uses Lightning Bolt as an additional removal and Pyroblast against other blue decks. With their many basics you will find Blood Moon in the Sideboard quite often.

VI. Decks and Cards we don't like

Here is a short overview how other decks can hit us.Punishing Fire: Punishing Fire kills our best creatures and Planeswalker and comes back. Very annoying and in the best case you are able to get it hit by Surgical Extraction. Common Decks with Punishing Fire are: Aggro Loam,Punishing Maverick, Punishing NicFit, LandsWasteland: Wasteland can hit our greedy manabase pretty good and will make us cry. Common Decks with Wasteland are: Aggro Loam, Lands, Death and Taxes, Goblins, Delver decks.Kolaghan's Command: With the upcoming 4c Control we have a new enemy. Command hits our equipment, hand and creatures. With Leovold we can get in serious trouble.

You see; Lands and Aggro Loam are big enemies and tough opponents. We can win by stopping their Life from the Loam, Dark Depths and removal. Usually they are using the graveyard. Rest in Peace and other hate can slow them down.
Another strong opponent is 4c control. This deck just outvalue us with their [cards]Kolaghan's Command[cards]. Force of Will is bad because it trades 2for1 and this is what Czech Pile wants to do. We need advantage on our side. Sword of Fire and Ice is great. It pressures the opponent and draws a card.

Last edited by Neo900; 01-11-2018 at 10:30 AM.
Reason: fitting more the meta; some shortening

The meta where I play is a bit diversed. Miracles, Sneak Show, Eldrazi, Combo (Ant or TES), DnT, Jund, Loam aggro and Shardless BUG. Also a few dredge and MUD. But recently, there are a few played lands.dec.

I was thinking of trying out collective brutality and invasive surgery off the side but don't know what to cut. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks!

Re: [Deck] Deathblade

So about Worship, I personally just have a really hard time against Eldrazi. 3 Baleful's main is great but they just have so many big fatties that I often die before I can stabilize. Maybe I'm just not playing the match up correctly but dropping a Worship seems like a free win against them. Not only that, but it helps against lands (they also can't deal with a true-name and have a hard time against enchantments), delver (they have to counter it or kill with deathrite), burn (should be a "i win" button), shardless (counter or bust) and probably a few other match ups I can't think of right now.

Re: [Deck] Deathblade

@duck
you have lots of removal also in your sideboard. beside that you can play Invasive Surgery in the slot of flusterstorm.Both cards do the same thing. I think surgery does a betteer job often times because it allows you to take the card out of the game. beside that it's a hard counter and a surgical extraction.

@potato
all is dust is a thing and all kind of eldrazi builds have access to it. beside that they often use ratchet bomb to get rid of nemesis or worship.
I saw lists with white and green to get disenchant or krosan grip and this green eldrazi which destroys artifacts to deal with hate.
or black versions for more disruption and removal like toxic deluge against nemesis. A reality smasher doesn't care about -1/-1.

No Kaya and no Bitterblossom. During the last week I had so many situations where Kaya just did the same as Liliana would do or Liliana would be even better. Beside that Liliana has an ultimate which can bring a win.
Bitterblossom is a great card but the meta is quite fast with less control decks. Since I switched Kaya for Liliana I want 2 Souls again because they synergies with her more. It's like a free discard.
right now 3 wasteland to slow the opponent down and have plays like waste into stoneforge with a deathrite shaman.
sideboard: right now I play Nihil Spellbomb to get more advantage with deatrhite, snapcaster, Tombstalker and Lingering souls.

also new is the Tombstalker. the last week I tested and played against so many decks especially shardless bug and this 5/5 flying demon was unstoppable. the flying makes him so strong and is hard to deal with.
for the ones who are interested in abzan stoneblade. last week an abzan list could make the top8: http://tcdecks.net/deck.php?id=21310&iddeck=163276

Re: [Deck] Deathblade

Originally Posted by Neo900

@duck
you have lots of removal also in your sideboard. beside that you can play Invasive Surgery in the slot of flusterstorm.Both cards do the same thing. I think surgery does a betteer job often times because it allows you to take the card out of the game. beside that it's a hard counter and a surgical extraction.

@potato
all is dust is a thing and all kind of eldrazi builds have access to it. beside that they often use ratchet bomb to get rid of nemesis or worship.
I saw lists with white and green to get disenchant or krosan grip and this green eldrazi which destroys artifacts to deal with hate.
or black versions for more disruption and removal like toxic deluge against nemesis. A reality smasher doesn't care about -1/-1.

The reason for me to have a lot of removals is because there's not much control decks here where I play. Agree with the invasive surgery part so I'll be testing it to see how it goes. So in your opinion,what should I take out if you feel that I pack too much removals in my 75?

Re: [Deck] Deathblade

I count 12 creature removal spells. If you have such a problem with creatures try other removal not more. there are 3 mass removal and 9 point removal.
zealous persecution is a nice card. try out 1 zealous and 1 toxic deluge. try out some token producer. they allow you either to stall or to overrun. the problem is that you have to blast out every turn your point removal and he just lays creatures until your removal goes out.
sweep the board and follow up with a nemesis or Planeswalker. this plays will win the game.

Re: [Deck] Deathblade

I just built up deathblade a couple weeks ago and I'm having a ton of fun with it so far. Do more experienced pilots have any suggestions for dealing with bloodmoon? I know deathrite can help in a pinch, but I'm also thinking about trying to run more than one basic main (I'm currently running a single swamp). Is it worth messing with the sensitive mana base to add another basic? And if so what would you prioritize?

Re: [Deck] Deathblade

Originally Posted by Neo900

c.) Abzan Deathblade – Just like Esper (7a) Abzan Deathblade is named after Abzan Charm (not included). Abzan is a very special style of Deathblade and plays without blue. For card advantage Abzan lists are playing Dark Confidant and Sylvan Library. As big beaters Abzan Deathblade uses Tarmogoyf and one of the 3 Delve creatures (4b). There is no blue for counterspells, and instead Abzan uses discard as a form of proactive control in form of Thoughtseize, Hymn to Tourach and Liliana of the Veil.

Thank you for your effort writing a new primer, although I'm not sure a refresh was necessary. Please correct c.) above. There is no deck called Abzan Deathblade. The deck is called Junk or The Rock or Dark Maverick. Crucially, it predates Deathblade. It wasn't just a Deathblade variant. As a longtime member of this site, it's frustrating to read something as ignorant as "Abzan is a very special style of Deathblade."

There are some other issues with that section, too. Deathblade is a four-color deck by default. The deck you describe as Esper Deathblade is actually Esper Stoneblade, and the deck you describe as Shardless BUG is called Shardless Bant. Also, Punishing Maverick doesn't get a name change for splashing in a few Deathrite Shamans.

Re: [Deck] Deathblade

I deleted the whole section. the problem with all this archetypes is that there are no rules how to sort in a deck.
I would say that it was wrong to write it in this way as special deathblade variants. maybe "other decks playing stoneforge mystic" would be a better title. that part was not to be mentioned ignorant in anyway. I just wanted to list some decks I saw so far and their pilot declared as "deathblade". I wouldn't say that deathblade is always four colored. I saw many decks without any green mana source and without green spells especially abrupt decay.
Also Dark Maverick or Maverick in general is just different. Maverick plays hatebears like Thalia. They are playing Mother of runes, green suns zenith and more mana creatures. "Abzan Deathblade" is also disruptive but in a different way. It plays Dark confidant for card advantage. Discard spells like hymn to tourach, thoughtseize and liliana of the veil. Also there are Maverick decks which are playing without stoneforge.

@aniso
blood moon just kills us. we have to counter it or prepare for it. if I know I play against dragon stompy or even miracles I play Engineered Explosives on 3 and just wait until the blood moon comes and I can push this emergency button if necessary.
with 2 basics you have the ability to play Explosives on 3 also. I played as basics a swamp and an Island. the island allows you to play Brainstorm and let you dig into your deck to find answers. the swamp helps to cast deathrite shaman and fix our mana.

Re: [Deck] Deathblade

Originally Posted by Neo900

I deleted the whole section. the problem with all this archetypes is that there are no rules how to sort in a deck.
I would say that it was wrong to write it in this way as special deathblade variants. maybe "other decks playing stoneforge mystic" would be a better title. that part was not to be mentioned ignorant in anyway. I just wanted to list some decks I saw so far and their pilot declared as "deathblade". I wouldn't say that deathblade is always four colored. I saw many decks without any green mana source and without green spells especially abrupt decay.
Also Dark Maverick or Maverick in general is just different. Maverick plays hatebears like Thalia. They are playing Mother of runes, green suns zenith and more mana creatures. "Abzan Deathblade" is also disruptive but in a different way. It plays Dark confidant for card advantage. Discard spells like hymn to tourach, thoughtseize and liliana of the veil. Also there are Maverick decks which are playing without stoneforge.

Thanks. That's probably for the best. "Other decks playing Stoneforge Mystic" would be fine if you wanted to point out what other decks run Stoneforge and an equipment plan, but that's a lot of decks, and they don't all play the same as Deathblade (such as Death & Taxes). Ditto for Deathrite Shaman. There are just so many different decks that Deathrite slots into that it's hard to draw meaningful comparisons in such an aside. Also, each deck's evolution was different even though they might all be running Deathrite now. My gripe was that you were lumping everything into Deathblade, which does a disservice to the evolution of those other decks. The deck you are still calling Abzan Deathblade is not actually called that. This is the thread: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...-Deck-The-Rock
The deck existed long before Deathrite Shaman was printed, and long before Stoneforge Mystic was printed. I recognize that there is general slippage of deck names depending on the presence of hate bears. You are correct that Dark Maverick relies on Thalia whereas The Rock or Junk relies on discard spells and Liliana of the Veil. In short, use the correct name for the deck.

Re: [Deck] Deathblade

Originally Posted by ESG

Thanks. That's probably for the best. "Other decks playing Stoneforge Mystic" would be fine if you wanted to point out what other decks run Stoneforge and an equipment plan, but that's a lot of decks, and they don't all play the same as Deathblade (such as Death & Taxes). Ditto for Deathrite Shaman. There are just so many different decks that Deathrite slots into that it's hard to draw meaningful comparisons in such an aside. Also, each deck's evolution was different even though they might all be running Deathrite now. My gripe was that you were lumping everything into Deathblade, which does a disservice to the evolution of those other decks. The deck you are still calling Abzan Deathblade is not actually called that. This is the thread: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...-Deck-The-Rock
The deck existed long before Deathrite Shaman was printed, and long before Stoneforge Mystic was printed. I recognize that there is general slippage of deck names depending on the presence of hate bears. You are correct that Dark Maverick relies on Thalia whereas The Rock or Junk relies on discard spells and Liliana of the Veil. In short, use the correct name for the deck.

Maybe I will write a section like "other stoneforge decks" just to show alternatives.
You are right with your argument about the rock and I will notice it for the future. But just I said: different players call their decks different.
I am sorry that you had to complain about this and in the future when I speak about abzan decks I will refer to the rock.
I am thankful for your critics and that I could improve the primer.

Re: [Deck] Deathblade

Thanks for your cooperation, Neo900. Now, let's get back to the Blade action ...

Originally Posted by aniso

I just built up deathblade a couple weeks ago and I'm having a ton of fun with it so far. Do more experienced pilots have any suggestions for dealing with bloodmoon? I know deathrite can help in a pinch, but I'm also thinking about trying to run more than one basic main (I'm currently running a single swamp). Is it worth messing with the sensitive mana base to add another basic? And if so what would you prioritize?

I agree with Neo900's advice. It's a very powerful card against the deck.

Your best lines will be to mulligan for Thoughtseize or a fetchland-into-Deathrite opening when on the play, or a Force of Will play or draw. If you run Swan Song or Hydroblast in your sideboard, those are other cards that can save you. Engineered Explosives, as Neo900 pointed out, is one way to remove a Moon that resolved.

Running more extensive basics was discussed in the previous thread and has been discussed in the Shardless BUG thread. This is a common question for decks that roll over to Blood Moon. The general finding has been that it's not worth making your mana less consistent in every other matchup just to gain points against the Blood Moon decks. If Blood Moon decks are rampant in your area, the best strategy is to play something else for a while or, if you can't, have a sideboard with multiple overlapping answers for it, and plan to mulligan to hands that can stop or ignore a Moon. If you do decide to run more basics beyond the Swamp, I would start with a Plains, which would allow you to play Stoneforge Mystic into Batterskull. That's probably your best hope if the majority of your mana is shut off. Most players don't stick basic lands in their sideboard, but that is an option if you feel you have the space.

Re: [Deck] Deathblade

been playing the deck for about 2 months now and can not understand for the life of me why we want life from the loam, for reference im running a 2 wasteland build so its not like I have a high probability of wasteland locking someone with loam, and decks that are aggressively wasting me idk one loam to protect against it doesnt really seem too strong, am I missing something? is it just as a hedge?

Re: [Deck] Deathblade

life from the loam is not a must have card. an attack on our mana base can cost us the game. it's not the single life from the loam which brings us the win as soon as we play it. In match up where mana is important and lands can be attacked it's nice to have.
I played against delver and he was not that fast and tried to work on my mana base. that costed him stifles and land drops. so I cast life from the loam and getting all back and have the advantage. it's not about to lock the opponent out, it's just to make their actions useless.

Re: [Deck] Deathblade

@Neo900 and @ESG thank you both for your thoughts on dealing with Blood Moon. It's not overly rampant in my meta, but shows up occasionally in Painter and UR Delver. I do run EE in the main so for now I'll stick to strong mulligan's for an answer before stretching the mana base too thin. It does seem like a bit of a toss-up as to whether an island or plains would be more appropriate after the singleton swamp. Although the island let's you dig for answers it doesn't necessarily let you cast them which makes me think if I do add another basic it should likely be the plains for stoneforge mystic.

...for mana I'm lazy, and Neo900 posted the perfect manabase for a Hymn deck a few pages back. It's amazing, and I will henceforth be copying his mana for all future Deathblade decks. With mana so sensitive in this deck, I don't want to give the impression I don't care about it, but at this point the ideal configuration is simply known, at least for Hymn decks.

Round 1: 4c Delver. I lose the die roll and game 1, lifeloss from TS and Bob sped up a Delver plus DRS kill. No Strix for me, and Mystic didn't show. Game 2 wasn't a contest, DRS lived, Plow and Waste took his things away, and I poured out 2 for 1s. Game 3 saw double Hymn into Deluge into Mystic.

Round 2 was against BR Reanimator. DRS took G1 after I won the roll. G2 I got rolled by a T1 Sire. G3 I got Surgicals and TS. I can't believe I won this MU, feels pretty bad.

Round 3 ID, play for fun, I steamroll a UR Delver deck and take a break.

Round 4 ID, play for fun against the mirror with TNN and Jace: the more usual version of the deck. You'd think that the advantage goes to the more controlling deck, but Hymn was such a beating that I took most of these games too. He couldn't hold on to those top end cards, and Dark Confidant kept my business flowing.

Top 8

Round 1: the Reanimator guy again. Lose the roll, and I only took G1 through Ritual, TS, Entomb, Reanimate because he missed the Karakas in my hand and went for Brand. He lost so much life that one DRS ping killed him. G2 I won off of double TS and Fluster, Tar Pit deals all 20 by itself.

Top 4, BUG Delver. G1 I don't have enough removal to kill Goyfs and Delver. G2, Null Rod, run over by Goyfs.

The worst card in the deck was Chrome Mox, which showed up often and did exactly nothing. The deck, in this form, is very much more dependent on equipment than ever before, and not having any creature big enough to deal with Goyf and Angler is problematic despite the 4 Strix.